


Fragments

by DarknessAroundUs



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Detectives, F/M, Kissing, Museums, Parents, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fill, Riverdale Writing Challenge, Tumblr, Undercover, bughead as kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2019-10-03 15:48:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 12,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17286956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessAroundUs/pseuds/DarknessAroundUs
Summary: Various bughead drabbles and ficlets from Tumblr. Mostly short, mostly sweet.





	1. Ivy League

Betty’s college roommate Ella is perky and blonde. In the first 15 minutes of sharing a room, Betty learns that Ella really loves cats (she has two at home – Mac and Tosh), she misses her boyfriend already (Tom, they have been together for six months), and the ins and outs of her family drama (parents are in the middle of a divorce, little brother has a video game addiction).

Betty tells Ella her name and offers that she likes Chinese food when Ella suggests ordering delivery. Betty does not tell Ella anything else about herself that night.

Over the next few weeks Ella learns a few more things about Betty Cooper, including her major (English), and her preferred mode of consuming coffee (one cream, two sugars).

Betty didn’t go to college planning to keep her personal life private, it’s just something that happened. She makes friends but she largely sticks to the over-talkers, the ones least likely to ask her questions.

She makes one friend, Shannon in her Intro to Children’s Literature Class who does encourage Betty to talk, but what she and Shannon talk about can be summed up in one word – books. They are both voracious and wide-ranging readers and they can spend an hour easily catching up on what they have read each week.

Part of what makes Betty reluctant to talk is that while she looks like she fits in at Harvard with her nice backpack and dentist perfect teeth, she knows that her life before acceptance doesn’t match up very well with her fellow freshmen.

Their high school experience seem to be full of parties, athletics, and first loves. Betty’s high school experience technically involved all of those things, but those are not the events that stand out.

She doesn’t know how to explain that she solved a murder as a sophomore, how her father turned out to be a serial killer, that same year.

Betty also doesn’t know how to talk about Jughead, her sweet, thoughtful, intelligent boyfriend, who should be at college too if he wasn’t busy running a gang. She worries often that somehow volunteering any information about herself, even something innocuous like the fact that she was once a cheerleader, will lead to more about her being revealed.

It isn’t till the day before Thanksgiving that Ella opens the door to their shared room and discovers that Betty Cooper has a boyfriend. She doesn’t walk on anything too awkward, they’re just sitting next to each other on Betty’s bed, but Ella is shocked.

She asks the question “How long have you been dating?” two times, even though Betty offers up the same answer both times (three years).

Finally Ella states with an exasperated sigh “How come I’ve never heard of you?”

Jughead offers up a smile “Betty likes to keep me to herself.”


	2. Brooklyn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Teenage Meet-Cute

Jughead opened the window silently, he had a lot of practice at it. He knew how to be quiet enough not to wake Jellybean. The fire escape was small and rusted. There was no getting around the squeak it made when he crawled out the window onto it. Jellybean stirred in her bed.

Sometimes this is when she caught him, when his half of his body was in their room and the other half was on the metal of fire escape. This time she rolled over but didn’t wake up. Jughead closed the window behind him.

The fire escape was small, all it held was an old potted mint plant that his mom had bought in the spring, one that had died a few weeks after it was purchased. Jughead fished the packet of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket, and the lighter out of his pants pocket.

He lit the cigarette and put it to his lips. He had gone four hours without one and that was far too long. He looked out across the fence behind their apartment building into the empty schoolyard. A security light illuminated the empty playground with its monkey bars and swings.

This was his quiet time every night. Sacred in its own way. He was about to take his cellphone out of his pocket to write notes on when he noticed for the first time movement below him, and he looked down into green eyes.

He was expecting an animal. One of his neighbors regularly let their cat sleep out here, but no this was a girl around his age, with blond hair, and tears, and a jean jacket that had seen better days. He almost yelled in shock.


	3. Loyal Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Cop Meet-Cute. This one isn't actually short. At all. I'm sorry

Betty Cooper is three hours and six cups of coffee into her day and she is already exhausted, bleary eyed, and far from her best. 

The case of Sarah Nickerson has kept her up half the night. Sarah is 17 and has already been missing for a week now. Her boyfriend was the last person to see her, allegedly walking up the steps to her own house on a quiet suburban street.

Sarah was a blond middle-class kid, not particularly notable academically, but a strong athlete, a cheerleader and a cross-country runner. A lot like Polly, though Betty’s trying not to think about what happened eight years ago.

Instead Betty is drawing up a timeline of the day Sarah was last seen. She is at 6 PM – Bowling when the police chief knocks on her office door.

“Come in.” She shouts without looking up.

“Betty, I want to introduce you to your new partner.” Chief Keller says. Only then does Betty look up to see Chief Keller, and the tall, dark haired man standing beside him.

They have been trying to match her with a new partner since her old one retired three months earlier. She still misses Timothy. Unlike most of the men around here he had no issues working with a women. The department actually had to hire from outside the precinct just to find someone who would work with her.

Chief Keller introduces the man besides him, as Jughead Jones. Jughead’s hair is longer and more unruly than the other officers. He extends his hand reluctantly to shake hers. Betty worries that it has to do with her gender, but she soon discovers that he just doesn’t talk. Quiet most of the time, he is guarded by sarcasm when he speaks. 

She finds out that the other officers don’t like him even more than they don’t like her. They snarl in his general direction, one day the trunk of his car is keyed, twice in the first week the wheels are punctured.

Both times Betty helps, the second time she insists that they buy coverage for the new tires, which comes in handy when they are punctured a third and fourth time months later. He stays quiet though all of this. He’s angry, she knows that much but whenever she tries to figure out why they dislike him so he asks her to leave it alone

She likes him though. He takes their work seriously. They work well together. He grows warmer to her than he does to the rest of the precinct, although she acknowledges that this is a very low bar.

One month into working together he brings her coffee just because. He stops talking to anyone but her and the ladies that work the front desk. She hears rumors his dad is in jail, that he was caught drunk on his last job. But Jughead (in spite of his first name) is nothing but professional to her.

Three months in they find a break on the Sarah Nickerson case. Camera footage reveals her walking in front of a Seven Eleven at midnight, two hours after her boyfriend claimed to have dropped her off. The Seven Eleven was miles from her home, in a part of the city that was less savory.

Jughead and Betty talk to the employees who worked that night. They described Sarah as strange, just based on the amount of time she spent in the store – an hour. They both wouldn’t have remembered her otherwise.

They canvas the whole area. They find Sarah on other CCTV camera’s looking lost, unsure. They find a witness who said she was looking for drugs. They sweep the ravine not far from there, and that’s where they find her body.

Betty breaks down then, in the car where no one but Jughead can see, and he holds her as her body shakes. They don’t talk about it for a week after.

Then one afternoon he asks if she would like to grab coffee with him. She doesn’t think date, she thinks practical. They’ve been working together for six months now. They function well as a team. Even the most professional partners require fuel sometimes.

They walk from the station to the café. He chooses one further from the precinct than normal, but Betty blames it on the weather. It’s one of those beautiful fall days, where the air is crisp but not cold, and all the leaves gleam in sunlight.

They are quiet on the way to the café, which is normal for them. She has come to find peace in their silence. They’re both on the same page. They don’t have to talk about that, they just are. He orders drip coffee and she gets a pumpkin spice latte.

“Do you want to know why everyone hates me?” He asks, turning towards her, outside the café.

“You don’t need to tell me.” She says, surprised that he brought it up.

“I know, but I want to tell you.” He has this expression on his face, one she hasn’t seen before. He seems uncertain. Betty nods and smiles. She doesn’t know how else to make it clear that he’s safe. She wants him to feel safe.

“I was undercover for almost three years.”

“Oh.” Betty says, exhaling.

“I was recruited to be an undercover cop actually. I have the right background for it. At least that’s what they told me at the time. I ended up bringing down a lot of cops. That wasn’t the intention of the operation I was in, but it was the outcome.”

“I see. I’m sorry, but they’re just idiots. You’re not the reason those cops went away, their actions are. ”

“So why do they hate you?”

“I thought you knew already?” Betty said, shrugging as if to say, isn’t obvious.

“No, I don’t.” He’s looking at her really closely now as if to figure out what he’s missing. As if the secret is hidden on her face.

“It’s because I’m a women.” Betty says, putting him out of his misery.

“Oh, now that’s just ridiculous.” Betty felt insulted. Jughead must have read that on her face because he immediately clarifies “No, I didn’t mean that you are ridiculous, I meant they are.”

She smiles at him. It takes years for him to tell her what actually happened when he was undercover, the details of it, the parts of himself he lost to addiction, to witnessing the worst in people. By then she’s told him all about Polly. But they have time for these conversations, three years of dating, and then a whole lifetime of marriage.


	4. The Newest of Years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the 1st round of the Riverdale Writing Challenge.

Jughead exhales. His cold breath filtering into the dark alley like smoke. 

Damn, even the illusion of smoke makes him miss the real thing. He longs for the scent of nicotine, the feel of it crawling down his throat, satisfying his cravings. He takes a deep breath. He reminds himself it wasn’t about longing but addiction. 

An addiction he has conquered for thirty days so far. Thirty long tough days. 

He can hear the sound of bottles clinking in the bar behind him. Sweet Pea headed out five minutes ago, and Cheryl and Toni took off before their last customer left. Betty must be cleaning by herself.. 

A month ago Jughead would have been pissed that everyone else left the work to them. Now he has different priorities.

He takes one last deep breath of the night air, which smells like fresh snow and spilled beer and then heads back inside. 

Betty’s changed out of her work outfit (a short sequined dress) into leggings and a sweater. The moments where he is alone with her, the person he’s brave enough to call his girlfriend only in the safety of his own head, are his favorite.

Betty looks up from the glitter and bottle covered floor and smiles. 

“How can you be smiling after all of this?” He asks her, even though he is pretty sure he is smiling himself. 

“All this?” 

“The annual New Years Eve shit-show.” He says with a shrug. 

When he first met Betty something about her, made him nervous to swear. Maybe it was the fact that she always wore her hair up at work, not a strand out place. Maybe it was the fact that even in a revealing camisole, there was something about her that seemed reserved, conservative.

He has since learned that that was not the case. He has also learned that she likes it when he swears. It draws a small smile to her lips every time. 

“It wasn’t so bad.” Betty replies. He remembers now that this is her first year working at the club on New Years Eve. The previous year she had been visiting her hometown for the holidays. This year she had stayed in New York, insisting it was the best for her mental health. 

Jughead goes over to one of the large circular table and sweeps a half dozen bottles into a bag with his arm. One or two more are removed from the table only after a sticky pop is heard. 

Before Jughead worked at a bar he never drank, now he still doesn’t. But at least now the scent of flat beer no longer reminds him of childhood very often. 

He looks over at Betty already on her third bag, and he thinks how in that outfit she looks so out of place. He looks around again at the room. They have another half hour of work to do at least, but they’re both technically off shift and neither of them are managers.

“Fuck it.” He says. Betty whips her head around to look at him. Jughead drops the bag of bottles on the floor and crosses the room to her and bends down and kisses her. Her lips press back, powerfully. 

He pulls away first but only to say. “Let’s go back to my place. I’ll just come in tomorrow early.” 

Betty looks like she’s considering protesting so he gives her one more kiss, briefly pressing the palm of his hand into the back of her neck, in a way he knows she’s like, even though she’s never said it out loud.

“Ok.” She says, looking up at him. Her expression soft and full of something neither of them is ready to put into words yet, although they both will, soon.


	5. Infanite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This was inspired by the Riverdale Writing Challenge. The art exhibit mentioned within is one I’ve been to, but I’ve taken some liberties with it. If you want to see the corresponding photographs for each room, I’ve placed them in my tumblr- Darknessaroundus.

Jughead has never been the most enthusiastic third wheel, although over the past five years he has become accustomed to the role. He still complains about it, from time to time, but mostly that is out of habit. After all he gets it, Archie loves Veronica, and Veronica puts up with Jughead, because she has to. 

The upside of having a best friend who is dating a heiress is that sometimes Jughead finds himself at events well outside of his budget and social circle that he actually wants to attend.

Today The MoMa is hosting a donor only opening for Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors exhibit. 

Jughead has seen photos of the exhibit before - people surrounded by infinitely repeated objects (spotted pumpkins for example). He’s also heard the hype. The way that walking into a room actually feels like being transported somewhere else. 

He’s curious, of course he is, but he also thinks the whole thing sounds a little absurd, less like art, more like a production. It reminds him of the Emperor’s new clothes. 

Plus he can’t help but be a little leery of the whole social media aspect of it. Would this sort of thing be nearly as popular if it wasn’t so damn Instagramble, he wonders? Even though he does reluctantly have an Instagram account, being a food critic in this day and age he has to. It would be impossible for him not to. 

In any case the donor only event was more crowded than Jughead had expected it to be. Veronica had promised him a distinct lack of lines, yet everywhere he looked there was one. 

The way the exhibit worked was unusual. Each room in the MoMa contained another smaller room in it, with its own door, each with an assistant in front and a velvet rope designating a line up extending out from there. 

Veronica leads them to one of the lines, while saying “I’ve heard it’s really best to start with this room.”

Jughead sighs and gets in line behind Archie and Veronica. After a long wait, they finally can see the door. When only four people are in front of them, the assistant asks Veronica how many people are in her party. 

When Veronica answers that there are three, the assistant shakes her head. “Sorry, that’s not an option. Only two people can enter at a time, unless the third person is a small child?” 

“Definitely not.” Veronica answers.

“All singles have to be paired to enter the room.” The assistant says, and then she starts down the line that extends behind them asking if anyone is part of a third or on their own.

A striking blond gets out of line and stands beside Jughead as Veronica and Archie enter the room together.

“Hi, i’m Betty.” The blond says. She’s got beautiful green eyes, and a smile that can only be described as charming.

“Jughead.” He replies waiting for the questioning follow up, that he deals with so often. She just nods as if Jughead is a perfectly normal name. 

“I thought there would be fewer lines for the donors preview.” Betty says.

“Me too. I also thought there would be fewer rules.” Jughead sighs, and tries not to notice the offended look the assistant is giving him. 

“What do you do for a living?” Jughead asks Betty. It is such an innocuous question that Jughead expected an easy answer. Instead Betty blushed a deep red. 

Jughead wonders if she’s a trust fund kid that doesn’t do anything for a living. Though he doesn’t think so. He’s spent enough time with Veronica to know the look. Betty’s purse wasn’t very expensive looking, her shoes were a little scuffed. 

Betty just shakes her head at him.

“Times up,” the assistent shouts and Archie and Veronica leave the room looking a little dazed. 

Jughead and Betty enter as the assistant instructs them not to touch anything and that they have two minutes inside the room. 

When the door closes behind them, it’s dis-orinating. All of a sudden they are surrounded by pumpkins, reflections of pumpkins and themselves. The outside noise had been reduced to a low hum. 

Jughead gets the hype in this second. He feels like he’s traveled outside his body sometime and it takes him another thirty seconds to really feel solid enough to ask Betty if he can snap a picture.

There is no way they won’t both be in the image, that’s how these rooms work after all.

“Of course.” She says, and then after a pause she adds “Sorry for not saying anything earlier, but I work for the New York Times. The normal art critic couldn’t make me today, so i’m here on their behalf, even though I’m normally a book reviewer for them.”

“Oh.” Jughead says, wondering why that was such a big secret, and then he realizes, that she is undercover, like he when he’s doing restaurant reviews. “I’m sorry.”

“You had no way of knowing.” Betty says with a gentle smile. He lines her smile. 

“I’m a restaurant reviewer. I go undercover all the time, so frankly, I shouldn’t have asked” Jughead says, and then to give her context he says “I write the Table for Two column for the New Yorker.”

Betty’s about to speak when the door flies open and the assistant shoots them dirty looks as they exit as quickly as they can. 

They decide to stay together for the rest of the rooms, as otherwise they will just be paired with some new random stranger. Veronica quickly hits it off with Betty, after Betty appropriately compliments her very expensive handbag. The long lines give them an ample opportunity to talk.

It turns out that Betty is a fan of Jughead’s column and the wit he imbues in it, because she quotes him a direct line from the one he published last week.

In the second room they walk into Betty bends down a little to see the items on the ground more closely and then pulls back with a laugh. “I can’t believe i thought they were mushrooms.”

Jughead still thought they were mushrooms but when he looks closer he realizes they are not. The room, small and infinite with mirrors, is filled with spotted phallus's of various sizes. He laughs too. He takes a picture and this time they’re closer together in the shot. 

By the line for the final room Jughead feels giddy. Not from the rooms themselves, he suspects that his first impression of them being overrated was right, but from Betty’s presence. 

She’s insightful, funny, and charming. He can tell that if he doesn’t ask for her number by the end of the night, Veronica's going to (albeit with different end results in mind). 

They enter the final room. Jughead almost loses his breath. They are surrounded by multicolored lights and dark, and it feels a little like they’ve somehow found themselves in a shot from Blade Runner (the original of course). 

It feels like floating almost, being here in this space, and maybe just to ground herself in the darkness and the ill defined space, Betty takes his hand, and he, on an instinct he’s never had before presses a kiss on top of her head. 

He doesn’t get a chance to take a picture in that room, because before he knows it, the assistant has the door open and she’s shooing them out. 

It feels hard to be back in the main gallery room, surrounded by people and noise, but it feels good to still be holding her hand.


	6. Get Out, Stay Out

When Betty gets into Harvard she thinks about how proud her mother would be. She almost rips up the letter on the spot, instead she tells Jughead about it over milkshakes and burgers at Pop’s.

He kisses her lips, then draws her close to him so that her forehead is resting on his shoulder bone and he whispers “This is your victory. This is your ticket out. Take it.”

“Come with me.” It’s not a question, but a statement.

“Always.”

That night he goes home to the new trailer with JB and FP where he feels like the odd man out for not going by initials. He texts her till she falls asleep. He stays up late and writes a new chapter of the novel that may never be finished. 

Betty sleeps in the bed that was once Jughead’s and is now hers again. It always smells a bit like both of them now.

Betty eats two eggs, two pieces of toast and a sausage for breakfast. She says good morning when her mother walks in. Alice post farm debacle (Alice’s words, not Betty’s) is not contrite. She is angry and controlling. She takes Betty’s plate and throws the contents in the garbage.

Betty leaves without saying another word. She spends the next four months not telling her mother about Harvard. Alice makes incorrect assumptions and goes on long rants about how Betty was too ambitious with her applications and underestimated her competition. Betty has equally long inner monologues that featured the word bitch.

Betty gets a summer job at Pop’s, and after making hundreds of milkshakes she never wants to drink one again. She grows to love coffee instead. She wonders if this is one of the ways she is growing up, and when she mentions that to Jughead he laughs “We haven’t been kids for a long time Betts”.

She realizes how true that is when she moves into her dorm. Around her everyone’s parents are unpacking new sheets and kissing children and offering cash from wallets.

All of Betty’s items are things she snuck out of her mom’s house over the last half year. Her sheets are already stained. She sold her fancy iPhone online for money for textbooks her scholarship doesn’t cover. Her new cell phone is already old and buggy.

Her roommates get drunk and throw parties, they make out with boys they don’t know the names of and with girls whose names they do know. They skip homework and order take out on their parents credit card.

Betty kisses Jughead and Jughead only.

Jughead has three roommates all who work nights, and she mostly stays there. They tease her. They call her Harvard girl, but they have the same kind of phone she does, and they eat raman most days with frozen peas, so they don’t get scurvy.

Betty leaves the dorms in the spring and never goes back, but she sees her former roommates in class, with their chipped manicures and freshly dyed hair.

She and Jughead sleep on the floor of the studio they rent. They don’t turn the lights on near the end of the month, if they can help it. They’ve never been happier.


	7. Mother Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new parent AU.

Betty opens her eyes. Her body feels warm around her, heavy and glowing. Their bedroom is filled with a dim light. It’s the afternoon sun, she realizes slowly. She wonders why she’s waking up now, why she was asleep before. She hasn’t napped for years.

Beside her, partially under the sheet, arm and one leg stretching out. is Jughead. His hair is damp, flatter than usual. His breathing is soft and slow. Only then does Betty notice another sound, so quiet and soft she can barely hear it at all.

She turns from her back to her left side, pain flows through her body, but it’s worth it, because there, in the white bassinet beside their bed is a baby.

Just a day ago he was in Betty’s body, and now he is here in the world, and he has a name, Marcus, that still feels funny on Betty’s lips.

He starts crying before his eyes open, screaming before his eyelashes catch the strange half light of the room.

Jughead wakes to the sound and brings him over to where Betty’s lying on her side, nursing bra pushed up. Even a few feet are far for her to walk right now. Everything is healing, everything feels like it will never heal.

Getting Marcus to latch onto her breast feels like a strange dance she doesn’t know the steps to yet, but eventually it works, and she feels the sharp let-down of milk, and Marcus is quiet again.

Jughead lays down beside her again, right next to her back, without putting any pressure on it . It was a long labor, a long night for both of them in the birthing center.

“You worked so hard for this” he whispers against the base of her neck. She can’t turn to see him, but she can here is breath become shallow and steady again as he returns to sleep.

Every bit of her body feels full of love even the parts that ache and hum. Love for Jughead, and love for the life they brought into this world, love for the light dimming around the room.

Betty tries to fall asleep but the nursing hurts and she longs badly for water. She closes her eyes and imagines swallowing some cold water, fresh from the tap. For a moment she thinks she must actually be drinking water because her whole mouth feels refreshed, inexplicably, but she can’t dwell on it, because sleep comes to her again.

The first week passes slowly. Friends visit and family. There are lactation cookies on the counter from Polly, and lentil turkey soup (“High in protein, low in calories, Elizabeth”) in the fridge. The nursery contains an impossible number of onesies with cute but tacky sayings on them.

The midwives finally tell Betty she’s ready to walk around the block. Jughead returns to work and Betty finds herself in the house with Marcus and a million things to do and not to do. Time passes strangely. She has no books to edit for another six months. No meetings to attend, no bosses to avoid.

It’s fall and each day the dark begins earlier. She goes for a walk one afternoon, the baby in a pram. Betty’s admiring the leaves when the rain starts to come down so heavy and fast. Betty thinks the word stop and the rain stops. It’s a coincidence she thinks, a happy one.

She starts to notice coincidences more. Like the time she really longs for turkey broth and then she finds some in the freezer that she swore she never made.

It’s more than that, one night she wakes to a dark room, a screaming baby, and a still asleep Jughead. Betty thinks that the lights should be on, suddenly the bulb above their bed is ablaze and Betty can see the red face of Marcus.

She’s going crazy, she’s sure. It’s because the baby isn’t sleeping through the night, isn’t sleeping very much at all.

But it has come in handy, this insanity. One day Marcus is so fussy she can’t set him down, and so she discovers how to chop vegetables with her mind. A knife is involved but not her hands.

Slowly Betty discovers she can do more and more things with her mind, it’s not just good for lights and stirring soup and inconvenient weather, she can scrub the toilet or do the laundry with it as well.

It doesn’t work for everything though. Mostly the weather ignores her, and she has no control over people, only things. But still she doesn’t know how to tell Jughead.

It seems strange really, she’s shared everything with him for so long, he’s seen her at her most vulnerable, but she’s not ready to admit to him that she’s lost it. That sleep deprivation has done her in, maybe.

It’s not that she thinks the darkness inside her won, this doesn’t feel dark, but she knows logically, what she’s going insane. She looks up postpartum depression on google, but it doesn’t seem right. None of the symptoms fit.

This has to all be in her head, except it doesn’t seem to be. Jughead eats the pasta she makes. They sleep on the sheets she cleaned without physical effort. In the morning they wake to muffins she doesn’t remember making.

“Thank you.” Jug says, kissing her forehead.

A month passes and still the symptoms persist. Betty knows that she has to tell him. Jug will know what to do. He will find her the right kind of help.

Before Betty tells Jughead she makes him lasagna. Betty loves the smile on his face as he watches her pull it from the oven, cut him a slice.

He’s holding Marcus, but Betty takes their son into her own arms. Then she switches off the overhead light, the dining room is still dimly lit by the kitchen.

Jughead looks at her curiously. He hasn’t started eating yet, but there is a large slice of lasagna on the plate in front of him.

Betty takes a deep breath and then lights all of the candles she’s placed around the room with her mind. It’s a good thing she’s holding the baby because Jughead’s jaw goes slack. His arms fall limply to his side.

“What?” Jughead says the word again and again as if saying it enough will make sense out of this situation.

Betty realizes in this moment that there might be no way to make sense out of this situation. Despair thrums through her.

Jughead stops talking and when he opens his mouth again he says “You’re a witch.”

It’s a word Betty has hesitated to use. She’d thought it, but only in the dark when she couldn’t fall asleep.

“I think I might be.” She says softly.

“Since when?”

“Since the baby. I would have told you sooner, but I wasn’t sure it was real.”

A smile grows on Jughead’s face, his teeth visible between his lips even in the dim light. “It’s real.”

Later that night, when they’re cuddling in spoons and Betty’s groggy with almost sleep she hears Jughead say ‘My wife is a witch,” softly and with reverence. Even in her sleepy state, her mind manages to pull back the curtain and reveal the moon.


	8. Will you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the anonymous tumbler prompt, Kissing in the rain because of celebration.
> 
> From this list: https://hellsdemonictrinity.tumblr.com/post/171885474505/a-kissing-prompt-list
> 
> A futerfic

Jughead is not a grand gestures kind of guy. On Valentines Day the idea of buying all the roses from a florist crosses his mind, but only as a joke. Instead he buys a simple bouquet of peonies for Betty, the kind that were so softly pink they would never remind her of her childhood bedroom.

Archie’s senior promposal had involved a horse drawn carriage and candles (for the record - not a good mix). Jughead’s had involved actually asking Betty instead of waiting for her to ask him.

Still, even Jughead wasn’t entirely immune to peer pressure. Ever since Veronica had helped Jughead pick out a ring, she has been trying to convince him that Betty deserves the best proposal ever, complete with live music and twinkle lights, or whatever else is trending on twitter this week.

Jughead politely ignores Veronica at first, but over the last month she has started to wear him down.

Veronica even created a pintrest board with 152 pins just for his proposal. Jughead suspects she has a secret wedding board just lying in wait.

Each morning Jughead wakes up to a text from Veronica with a link to something she thought was cute - the perfect proposal sign, the best locations to propose in NYC (why did so many have to be 5 star restaurants? Did Veronica even know him?), or the best three piece band to hire.

Jughead suspects that all this has something to do with the fact that Archie had yet to propose, but still the pressure got to him. So he gives in a little.

He doesn’t get a custom made proposal sign, but he does hire a harp player. He scouts out a bench in central park, one that was semi private, with a view of the lake.

Veronica doesn’t approve of his plan but she does very generously suggest that Betty will still say yes.

When the morning of the proposal dawns, it is not the bright and sunny day the weather man had predicted. Still Jughead decides that a few clouds were hardly a reason to call the proposal off. That’s when the harpist texted him that she had caught the flu.

Jughead makes Betty breakfast in bed. He burns the pancakes and the only coffee they have is decaf. Right after breakfast they go to their regular neighborhood cafe only to find their least favorite barista, the one that always burnt the milk, on duty.

If Jughead was even a little superstitious, he would have called it off then. Instead he is bouncing with nervous energy. After giving up smoking five months ago he is about a minute away from bumming a cigarette off a stranger, and Betty would not be happy about that. He has to propose, the sooner, the better.

So instead of the planned long meander to the pre-determined spot, Jughead steers a confused Betty rapidly towards the lake. When they make it to the bench he turns to her and says “sit”

“Why, are you going to join me?” Betty asks. By this point she is both confused and annoyed. What should have been a peaceful Saturday morning felt like some sort of puzzle, one she only had half the pieces.

“No.” Jughead replies.

Betty considers not sitting down, but it seems like a silly thing to argue about.

The wind has picked up by then, but they are too absorbed in their own thoughts to notice. Jughead is preoccupied with what he is going to say to her. Was he supposed to start or end by calling her the love of his life? Why not both?

Betty is trying to figure out why her boyfriend is malfunctioning. He is standing above her, looking at the lake and saying nothing. Finally after a few minutes have passed his gaze meets hers, and he sinks dramatically to one knee.

Neither of them notice the first drop of rain hitting the lake.

“Betty.” Jughead says as he waits for the words of praise to come. But nothing follows. His brain has writer’s block.

“Jughead?” She says softly, extending one of her hands to reach his. “I love you.”

It is those words, and that gentle touch that reassure him, that ground him.

“Betty, you’re the love of my life. Will you marry me?”

A drop of rain hits Betty’s arm, another falls on Jughead’s back and his shoulder. Jughead’s too busy hunting through his satchel for the ring to notice.

After a mad scramble he discovers the box resting between The Journalist and the Murder and What is the What. He pulls it out and hands it to her.

She opens it, revealing the silver band ringed in small diamonds. It’s not ostentatious at all. It looks more like a wedding band really. “Oh, Jug. It’s beautiful.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.” The rain is coming down hard. The drops make a plunking noise when they hit the lake. “I love you.”

His nose brushes hers lightly and then their lips meet. It’s a soft and gentle kiss.

After Betty places her hand gently against Jughead’s cheek. ‘Is that why you were so nervous, all morning?“

“Yes.”

“How could I say anything but yes?”

It’s pouring now. Both of their shirts are starting to soak through. Betty presses a kiss against Jughead’s cheek, one against his chin, and one against his lips. His lips press back urgently.

Later when they tell the story to Veronica and Archie they leave out exactly how far the kiss goes. But after they are done with the tale, Veronica turns to Archie and says “That’s how not to do it.”

Veronica and Archie get caught up in that debate, while Betty runs her fingers through Jughead’s hair, and he presses three fast and happy kisses against her lips.

“Should I re-propose?” He whispers in her ear, half serious.

“Only if you’re not happy with the answer you got.” She winks.

He forces a very serious look onto his face, “Never.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. I'm still accepting prompts at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/darknessaroundus


	9. At the Met

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt from EarthLaughsinFlowers ( <3) for flowers and art galleries.

When Jughead first moved to the city he had expected just being there would make his life better. He loved the idea of staying up late at night and writing in The Hungarian Pastry shop and Cafe Reggio, he hadn’t counted on all the people.

Often when he went to either of those places, or any cafe or diner in the city to write, it was either too full for him to have a seat or the waitstaff were too efficient at forcing tables to move on.

It was only when he found a job as a dog walker (a surprisingly lucrative career), did his life start to change. He had to shift his hours to please busy employers and as part of that he was no longer the night owl he once was.

Now he woke up at 5 every morning to work. Only once his schedule shifted did he discover one of the great secrets of the city, the museums were mostly empty for the first two hours of every morning.

When he figured out that you only had to pay a dollar (or less, but he wasn’t that cheap), to go into the Met, he found himself going two to three days a week. The lack of wifi really helped him focus, as did the art work. Sometimes he would go up to the Japanese gardens and pretend he had traveled halfway around the world.

Other times he would hang out at the Temple of Dendur with a notebook. He would spend time in the Impressionist wing and in visible storage. If any room got too busy, he would just scout around for a new one. There was always a quiet spot somewhere in the museum.

One morning after a long walk with one of his favorite German Shepherds he found himself, with a notebook in front of Monet’s water lilies.

He’s writing for a while, all caught up in the details of a small town he left behind a long time ago when he hears two girls chatting. He doesn’t look up but he can tell their angry.

“Look Betty, if you don’t go out to bars and you continue to refuse to sign up for eHarmony you’re going to die alone.”

It’s a harsh statement and Jughead knows it pretty well, because Archie said the same thing last week, except he mentioned Tinder not eHarmony.

“Polly, I don’t need anyone. I’m happy.”

“You never get out, Betty. I worry about you.”

Jughead is really trying to resist looking up now. Betty sounds like him. He has to admit that he’s curious about her.

“I’m out right now. I come here every week on Wednesdays to visit the Water lillies.”

Jughead looks up from the pages of his notebook and he sees a girl wearing a knee length blue dress, with beautiful blond hair, and eyes that somehow manage to be both quick and kind. She’s beautiful.

“You’re never going to meet anyone in a museum.” The other girl, mutters. The other girl must be her older sister. They look alike, except that the kindness so clearly conveyed on Betty’s face is nowhere to be found on Polly.

“Why not? I’d much rather meet someone in a museum than a bar. Our odds of having something in common go way up.” Betty says, but her voice sounds further away. When Jughead looks up from his notebook again, both women have left the room.

Jughead doesn’t know what to do. He’s never asked out anyone before and the fact that her sister is here puts additional pressure on the situation, but he can’t let this pass him by.

So he gets up, tucks the notebook in his pocket, and walks into the next room over where both women are admiring a painting by degas, that Jughead has always dismissed as unremarkable.

“Hello.” He says when he reaches them “I’m sorry to interrupt but I was wondering if you would be able to go on a date with me?”

Both women turn towards him, Polly’s face is a little slack but Betty has a smile on her face. She’s even more beautiful than he thought she was at first glance.

“Which one of us?” She asks.

“You.” He says.

“When? Where?” Betty asks. Polly’s facial expression has gone sour.

“Same time, tomorrow. We can meet in the sculpture garden.” He almost can’t believe his own actions. He’s never been this kind of forward before.

“Sure.” Betty says.

Jughead fights the unexpected urge to kiss her as she and Polly walk away.

“Tomorrow.” He shouts after her.

“Please don’t shout” a guard says, his tone sharp. Jughead only remembers then, where he is.


	10. Sweetwater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More kissing prompts! This one was suggested by both a nonny and The Heavy Crown <3\. By the river/in the water and a bet!

Betty loves being twelve, it is almost as good as being grown-up. Suddenly she could go to Pop’s with Archie and Jughead, or the river. Summer used to be confined to their street with the occasional excursion with Fred or Mary to the fair.

Now most mornings Betty stuffs a change of clothes, sunscreen, two books (one for her, one for Jug), some granola bars, and a towel in her backpack before grabbing her bike. She and Archie would peddle down to the river together in the building heat. Sweat already coating her hair under her helmet before they arrived.

Jughead would meet them at the river. Usually they would spend all day just the three of them, in and out of the water and by the banks. Swimming, frog hunting, reading, and teasing.

Sometimes classmates would come by and join them. Archie was always eager for that, but Betty felt like these almost strangers were intruding. Jughead made his opinion on the matter clear by leaving.

This morning, after their second swim, while they were all sharing a bag of chips Archie brought, even though Betty didn’t really like ruffles, Polly arrived with Cheryl.  
Polly smiles and waves at Betty, Cheryl doesn’t acknowledge her presence.

Reggie and Moose come minutes after. It’s like an unofficial party. Betty knows that Jughead wants to leave, but she can’t imagine staying without him, so she takes Jughead’s hand in her own and leads him down to the river.

No one else is in the water. She and Jughead splash each other, and race across the river. Within minutes she’s forgotten everyone on the banks.

Then Cheryl enters the water with Polly by her side, Reggie, Moose, and Archie following her like pets.

“Betty.” Polly says. “Come play with us.”

“Play what?” Betty asks.

“Truth or dare.”

Betty is a much bigger fan of Marco Polo or tag but still she says. “Sure.”

Jughead starts to make his way out of the water when Cheryl yells “You too, Hobo.”

When Jughead looks back, probably to say something biting to Cheryl, Betty’s expression is pleading. He says nothing, just walks back to her. The water’s waist high on both of them.

The game starts uneventfully with Polly confessing that she actually hates church (to the surprise of no one - certainly not Betty), but grows progressively bolder. Moose drinks a whole cup of lake water and Archie moons all of them.

Then Cheryl dares Betty to kiss someone.

Betty’s not sure what to do. It’s not like she can ignore the demand. She doesn’t want to kiss Reggie and Moose, they’re both gross, and Archie isn’t much better after pulling down his shorts. So she turns to Jughead who’s eyes are already rolling “Please?” she asks.

He’s never said no to her. He nods and she steps closer. She doesn’t expect to like it. Kissing in movies always looked gross. But even though Jughead tasted a lot like sunscreen, there is softness there and energy between their lips. It’s like discovering the right flavor of ice cream for the first time.

“Enough.” Cheryl shouts, and Betty leaps back. She hadn’t even realized her eyes were closed till she opened them. “Jughead, it’s your turn next.”

“No. You’re the only one who hasn’t gone yet.” Jughead says.

Cheryl looks surprised “Fine, dare me?”

“Ok.” Jughead says. “I dare you to eat dirt.”

The horrified look on Cheryl’s face is one that Betty will cherish for years to come. Cheryl turns away from Jughead, grabs Polly’s hand and says. “Come on Pollykins. It’s time to go. These kids are still too young to be any fun.”

Polly follows Cheryl passively, Reggie and Moose whining for her to stay.

Later that night, as Betty looks up at the glow in the dark stars on her ceiling, she thinks of the kiss again. How nice it felt. Like discovering a secret.


	11. The Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the Prompt by Brian + Runyon: Wedding first meet AU. Betty first meets Jughead at her cousin Cheryl’s wedding.

Jughead did not want to be there. Cheryl had vetoed his combat boots. Toni had forced him to spend way too much money on a suit that felt terrible to wear.

When he looked in the mirror earlier he thought he looked ridiculous. Now all he could think about was how hot he felt. The air conditioning at the venue, a manor house in upstate NY, had broken.

Cheryl was in a tizzy, apparently all the flowers were wilting. Jughead cared less about the flowers and more about his uncomfortable self. Besides at least he couldn’t hear or see Cheryl rant. As Toni’s Maid of Honor (the most ridiculous label he’s ever been stuck with), he was sequestered with Toni and the other bridesmaids before the ceremony, which was still half hour off.

Sweet Pea had taken his suit jacket off again. Fangs was fanning himself with a program. Only Toni, in a revealing dress, looked cool. She also looked happy. 

Seeing her smile, made Jughead snap out of his self-centered grumpy-ness. So what if this wasn’t his scene. This was such an important day for his oldest friend.

He’s about to get up and walk over to her when someone knocks on the door.

“Who is it?” He asks. He’s not supposed to let Cheryl see Toni before the wedding even if she begs.

“Betty.” The voice says from the other side of the wood paneled door. Jughead doesn’t know a Betty. Betty must figure that out because she then says “I’m Cheryl’s cousin, she wants me to give something to Toni.”

Jughead unlocks the door. On the other side is Betty. She’s tall and blond, wearing a striking blue dress, with a slit in it that makes her look more like a bond girl than a brides maid.

“Hi.” She says. Jughead’s too preoccupied to respond. Instead he’s too busy looking at her to respond properly. She smiles at him awkwardly and then scoots around him, hands Toni a small box, kisses her cheek and leaves.

Only after she’s left the room does Jughead feel capable of speech. But no one gives him a chance too. They’re too busy laughing.

Jughead tries to come up with an excuse for his actions “I just didn’t recognize her from the rehearsal dinner.”

Toni laughs “She wasn’t there. She’s a reporter, and she was in Bangladesh on work. She just flew in this morning.”

Thankfully a few minutes later the make up artist arrives to put the finishing touches on Toni and everyone forgets about Jughead’s awkwarness.

Even Jughead notices the drooping flowers during the wedding, but everything else goes off without a hitch somehow.

During the meal, Jughead and Betty are seated at opposite ends of the table. But after once the first dance is over, Jughead realizes that in order to meet her properly he has to dance.

She’s already surrounded by friends by the time he makes his way to her, but when the song switches to a slow one, he goes up to her and surprising even himself he says “May I have this dance?”

She smiles, takes his hand, and says “So you do talk.”

“Sorry about earlier, you caught me by surprise.”

Betty nods, though there is a serious expression on her face. Only after they dance another minute, gently swaying together in the heat, he thinks to to tell her his name, and she doesn’t laugh, which is always the best sign.


	12. Recidency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A kissing prompt for in the snow and longing from the wonderful Honestlyhappyhoneymoon.

Betty looks out the window of her cabin. Her mug of coffee is cradled in her hands, lending them a much needed warmth.

The cabin is still too cold, her bones ache with it. The fire in the woodstove died in the early hours of the morning and she has yet to wake up enough to set a new one.

Back when Betty was applying for this writers residency, the picture of the rustic cabins with the little wood stoves had appealed to her so much, now she realized the drawback.

Sleeping in a loft sounded great, but climbing down the ladder in the middle of the night was treacherous. And the wood stove involved consistent effort. Even though thankfully the kindling and chopped wood was provided.

Betty would like to say that, that was why she was cranky this morning, but it’s not really the whole picture.

She misses Jughead. When she applied to the retreat she didn’t think of the reality of waking every morning to an empty bed. She didn’t think about how much she would miss the simple moments between them. She even missed unloading the dishwasher with him and it had only been two weeks.

Outside a red wing blackboard jumps from branch to branch on a fallen tree. It’s striking. Betty can see smoke already coming out the chimney of the one identical cabin within view.

She starts her own fire, and then curling into the window seat, she calls Jughead.

“Betty.” He says when he picks up. He sound much more fully awake.

“I miss you.” She says. “I know I promised you I wouldn’t say that out loud because it would only make things worse, but it’s true. I don’t know if I can make it two more weeks.”

“Oh.” He says.

She wonders what he means by that Oh. She knows him so well that in person she would know from his facial expressions that he meant “oh, thank goodness” versus “oh shit”.

“Oh?”

That’s when Betty hears the knock on the door. In her weeks here no one had knocks on it. Mostly the other writers here had left her alone, and she they, still she should answer it.

“Just hold on a second. Someone’s at the door.” Betty says into the phone.

She glances down at her clothes. An old t-shirt and sweat pants weren’t the most flattering, but who really cared, they were here to write after all.

She swings the door open. There standing on the snow covered porch is Jughead, a nervous grin on his face. He’s clad in a black pea coat and he looks even more striking against the snow. His eyes gleam at her.

Betty should say something, but she’s so overwhelmed, that she can’t do anything but fling herself onto the snow covered porch, bare feet and all, and kiss Jughead, pressing her lips against his as if she wanted to leave a mark.

While they are kissing, Jughead scoops her up and carries her inside. The door slamming behind them.


	13. How I Met Your...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous sent me a prompt for kisses involving a a bar and a bet.
> 
> This is an accidental homage to a TV show I havn't watched in a very long time. This is the last prompt (for now).
> 
> P.S. If you are opposed to two friends of the same sex kissing in a non romantic way as a side point this is probably not for you.

They were in their normal booth at McNally’s, all five of them, Veronica, Archie, Reggie, Betty, and Jughead. It was an average Thursday night, which is to say everyone was drinking, talking, and joking.

Reggie kept trying to convince Jughead to be his wingman. Jughead 1). Hated the term, and 2). hated Reggie. Sometimes he wondered why he hung around McNally’s as much as he did, considering the fact that Reggie was always here and he could hang out with Veronica and Archie as much as he wanted at home in their shared apartment.

But then Jughead remembered that he really came here to see Betty. Betty who could write a line that was informative and heartbreaking, Betty who had wonderful legs, Betty who was sitting across the booth from him, chatting with Veronica, while letting him steal all her fries.

“This is boring.” Reggie protests.

“So make it not boring.” Veronica says with a sigh.

“Ok. Let’s make a bet.”

“Oohh. What kind of bet?” Archie asks.

“I bet you twenty dollars that you won’t kiss anyone in this bar… that isn’t Veronica.”

Archie’s eyes twinkle. ‘Do you mind V?”

Veronica laughs. “Not at all.”

Archie then turns to Jughead “Do you mind?”

“Buy me a burger?” Jughead says with a shrug. He might as well get something out of this besides a slightly awkward memory.

Archie kisses him on the lips, and Jughead even in the moment that it’s happening tries to block it out. But the kiss only lasts for a second and then Reggie is groaning while handing over the money.

Then Archie turns to Jughead and says “I will give this money if you kiss the hottest girl in this bar.”

“Hey!” Veronica protests.

“That isn’t Veronica.” Archie says with a wink.

Jughead wants to protest, but then he spots Betty out of the corner of his eye, she glows, even in the terrible pub lighting.

“Ok.” Jughead says and then he leans across the table puts his hand on Betty’s and says “Could I kiss you?”

Betty wiggles both her eyebrows, a huge smile on her lips, and then nods.

Jughead only meant for the kiss to last a second, the same discrete length of time it lasted with Archie. That was not the case though. His lips met hers, and he could feel the softness, against his. At first he was tentative and then he was not.

Veronica loudly cleared her throat and only then did Jughead realize where he was.

Archie laughs so hard he almost falls out of the booth. Betty’s grinning, her cheeks flushed pink. Reggie looks pissed but Jughead tries not to read too much into that.

Instead he reaches across the table, takes Betty’s hand and says “Let’s get out of here.”


	14. Rings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning! This drabble contains Major Character Death! Do not proceed if that isn't what you are up for!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you didn't see the earlier warning there is Major Character Death in this one - It's the only one of my drabbles with this and I'm doing my best to warn everyone!

7

In every loot bag Betty insists on including a ring pop. Alice doesn’t love the idea. She claims the boy’s won’t want them, but Betty knows better. Sweets aren’t gendered. Not even Reggie complains. The next day Jughead sticks a teasing tongue out at Betty and it’s still blue.

17

Betty notices Jughead’s ring collection grow. She knows why. Unlike the bracelets he wears around his wrists, these have purpose. 

Rings are more discrete than brass knuckles, but the effect can be similar. She cleans them sometimes for him, a little red seeping out into the bowl she soaks them in. It can hide so well in the grooves of the right ring.

In bed he is a ring-less, a soft spoon, who talks her to sleep.

20

She tells him they’re too young for this. She expects him to accept that - close the box back up around the ring and take it away. Maybe pull it out in a few years time when it would be more appropriate.

She never imagined herself to be the outlier who married in college. Shouldn’t he know that?

Jughead doesn’t look upset. Instead he keeps smiling calmly, as if he already knows she’s doubting her self.

“We don’t need this to make us engaged.” He says. “We’re already married in the ways that count.”

She wants to refute this fact, but it’s the truth so after a pause where the music from Pop’s jukebox swells around them, she lets him put the ring on her hand.

22\. 

Jughead loves re-telling a story about a coworker who wouldn't stop flirting with him. When he kept turning them down, they just upped the anti, wore shorter skirts and more revealing tops. Finally they sent him an unsolicited nude and he sent them a shot of his ring finger bent at the knuckle and his ring finger extended beside it. 

24\. 

With the advance from his first book Jughead buys Betty a Cartier trinity ring, one she has long admired, but never asked for because groceries were much more important. 

More surprisingly he buys himself a larger ring, simple and heavy. Betty asks him why, and he says simply that he wants to make it clear how much he's loved, how much he's taken by her.

30.

He starts loosing weight. Most of their friend group are complaining about larger bellies and longer gym hours, but Jughead always the one to need more pizza is turning away, groaning in pain.

Betty first realizes just how much weight he’s lost when his ring slips off, gets lost among the condiments in the bottom of their fridge.

That’s when she insists on taking him to the doctor. The doctor who asks them to sit down before he says anything.

33.

She wears it around her neck on a gold chain. Their daughter Marlow loves to play with it. Betty washes jammy fingerprints off of it all the time. She rests it on her bedside table every night.

45.

She overhears Marlow talking in the kitchen to one of her friends. Marlow says “It’s just so pathetic. She’s never moved on. That damn ring is just one of the way’s she’s made it clear that she never will.”

In that moment, Betty’s gutted. Not for herself, but for Jughead. The living breathing person that had helped her create Marlow, but to Marlow he’s just a story, a legend, a photograph.

That night she prints out Jughead’s first manuscript, the one he wrote in high-school, the only one he never published, and she places it on Marlow’s bed, while Marlow’s out at some party. 

She can only tell Marlow so much about Jughead without Marlow tuning her out, but perhaps Marlow will listen to Jughead’s words. All sly vinegar and soft compliments.


	15. Blood and Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt/ask: Vampire AU!

Jugheand can pass as a human. It took two hundred years of living with this curse for him to figure it out.

Moderation and self control were the hardest lessons he ever learned, but now he can walk by a blood soaked person, without giving into his baser instincts. Sure his nostrils flare and his eyes darken, but nothing more than that happens.

He’s made a life for himself. A life without much joy, but at least no one else is dying for his pleasure. 

Jughead lives on the outskirts of a small town in France. He drinks wine every night, even though it is a poor supplement. Dr. Curdle Junior drops by with blood every few days, and he keeps pigs just in case.

It’s an ordered life. One that starts at 3 PM with his first cup of blood, and ends at 6 AM with a book in bed. Loneliness is a way of life for him.

One fall evening, right after the sun has set, Dr. Curdle comes over. He knocks on the door of the pig shed, while Jughead’s feeding them. He’s caught off guard because it’s not a blood delivery day.

Still Jughead greets Dr. Curdle with his usual snark, and offers him a glass of wine. The Dr. accepts. He always does.

Jughead washes his hands and pours them both a glass before asking “What are you doing here?”

“There’s a new witch it town.”

“Oh.” The magical community here is small and steady. It’s rare for anyone new to come or anyone old to leave. Still it’s hardly a reason for an unannounced visit. There are four witches in the community already. “Why should I care?”

Dr. Curdle smiles brightly, which is always a little disconcerting. “Because her specialty is souls. She just returned Dracula’s last month.”

Jughead had heard about that. Every vampire he knew (online friends mostly), had heard of this which, and revered or despised her.

“What’s Betty Cooper doing here?” He says. It’s been a long time since he’s been shocked, but it’s fair to say he’s shocked now.

“She’s looking for someone with the name Elizabeth Smith marked on their wrist.”

Both Jughead and Dr. Curdle glance at his right arm, at the mark they know is there, the mark that has been there now for almost three hundred years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also a friendly reminder to vote in the Fifth BFA's. You can go here for details: https://bugheadfanfictionawards.tumblr.com/post/186678920291/there-are-less-than-24-hours-left-to-vote, but voting closes in less than 24 hours! You do not need a Tumblr account to vote.


	16. Alma's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The portion in Italics is the prompt, from this list: https://darknessaroundus.tumblr.com/post/186664654772/prompt-list-fantasysci-fi-1

Betty’s the night shift waitress at Alma’s, which means every night she works from 10 till 6. 

When she slogs home before sunrise, she feels like a vampire, albeit she’s too sweaty to be one. Albuquerque in the summer is too hot for her, secretly she thinks it’s too hot for anyone.

Although the regular in booth seven never complains. In fact he wears a knit hat, even when the temperature outside is over a hundred. 

His name is Jughead, and Betty would love to dismiss him as strange, most of her customers, regular or otherwise, are. 

But while most of her customers are drunk, high, or just belligerent, Jughead is always calm and kind. He doesn’t say much but he tips well, and occasionally asks about her life. Never any questions about her past that would go unanswered, but questions about what she’s reading now.

Betty can’t make friends here, because of what happened last time, but Jughead is her favorite customer, even though she tells her boss that he’s not. Her boss, Alma, is not such a big fan of Jughead. She calls him the weirdo. 

It’s only six months in to working at Alma’s that Betty notices how weird Jughead is. A customer attempts to punch Betty only to run away to the bathroom after. Jughead strangely follows the belligerent man to the bathroom. 

When the man exits minutes later he apologizes to Betty, tips a hundred dollars and leaves. Betty never sees him again.

She starts to notice that if anyone seems particularly agitated or sad, Jughead follows them into the washroom, women or man, and that stranger leaves calmer, sometimes even with a smile on their face. Every night Jughead looks a little wearer, a little thinner, in spite of the burgers. 

Jughead and whatever stranger he follows in, are only in there for a minute or two. Betty doesn’t think anything sexual is happening, but she’s curious. It’s a strange way to behave. 

So one night after 30 seconds pass she follows them in. When she opens the washroom door. Jughead has his hands pressed against the stomach of a tall women. Both Jughead and the stranger look up in shock. Jughead doesn’t move his hands till ten impossibly long seconds later. 

The women leaves. Betty just keeps staring at Jughead. The bathroom door slams shut and neither of them flinch. 

Her unspoken question must be clear because Jughead says _“I’m a sin eater. I absorb the misdeeds of others, darkening my soul to keep theirs pure. That is what I’m capable of.”_

“Can you take mine?” Betty asks, her hands trembling. She feels as if in spite of all her sins, her prayers have been answered. 

He takes her hands placing his cool palms against her hot ones and says “The sin you’re most worried about isn’t one.”


	17. Caught

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From this prompt list. A sort of weird crossover with The Good Place. https://darknessaroundus.tumblr.com/post/186664654772/prompt-list-fantasysci-fi-1

Betty’s eyebrow is arched, her expression is one of judgement, and as always her ponytail is iconic and above reproach. Inside she’s screaming with terror.

It’s a good thing she’s so skilled at hiding her emotions, at pretending she doesn’t have them at all.

“What can I say? Opposites attract.” She shrugs as she says it. As if this is just sex, which isn’t something they discourage in hell (or heaven for that matter) at all, at least in most circumstances.

“That is really not a good excuse for sleeping with a bloody angel!” Shawn says. He’s not technically screaming but still Betty feels like it.

“Angels don’t bleed.” Betty points out, even though that doesn’t help her case, but it does catch Shawn off guard. He raises a curious eyebrow as if asking her to continue so she does, ”I thought it would be interesting.”

“To fuck an angel?” Shawn says, to make it even more crude he throws in a hand gesture. But Betty knows he’s intrigued, he’s focused on her in such a way that makes it clear.

“To see if I could seduce one, reduce him to our level.”

The expression on Shawn’s face shifts from angry to skeptical “Elaborate.”

“I wanted to find out if I could taint an angel by making him fall in love with me, then breaking his heart.” Saying that lie out loud makes the place her soul once was, the place it might be growing back, actually ache.

There’s no pretending with Jughead. There never was and there never will be.

Decades of bantering and one kiss made that clear. But that one kiss was a long time ago now by anyone’s standards, not that Shawn knows any of this. But it’s only threw divine intervention that they made it this far.

Shawn’s happy now, a shit eating grin covers his face “Since this is an experiment in corruption, of course I approve.”

Betty forces her face to stay nuturl when she nods. At least she’ll be able to see Jughead one more time, tell him that she loves him, presumably before she’d disemboweled for the rest of eternity.


	18. No Sparkles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From this prompt list: https://darknessaroundus.tumblr.com/post/186664654772/prompt-list-fantasysci-fi-1

They meet in a library. Betty is the librarian and Jughead is that patron who is always late returning books.

She fines him at first, she has to, but that leads to a good natured discussion of books, which leads to some flirting of the awkward variety.

They aren’t friends exactly, because they never hang out outside of the library, but they are certainly more than acquaintances.

They would be dating, but every time Jughead hints at coffee or movies, Betty remembers some mundane task she urgently needs attend to.

Betty wants to date him, she’s just not sure she should for his sake. It’s been a couple hundred years since she’s dated and she’s kind of forgotten how.

Two centuries ago things were different. No one knew about vampires, outside of fiction. Now they’re common knowledge. There are horror stories about them on the news all the time - this vampire sucked this lover dry, and this vampire ate his stepson - stories like that.

Betty is going on four hundred but she hasn’t killed a person. The odds are low that she ever will. But still it’s awkward to tell Jughead she’s a vampire because of what he’s seen on the news.

But it would be unethical to date him without disclosing that fact about herself.

So finally, six months deep into bantering, while they’re discussing the Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, Betty blurts out “I’m a vampire.”

Jughead’s eyes don’t widen. His posture doesn’t change. Instead he just shrugs, and says “Okay.”

“Okay?! I tell you I’m a vampire and you say ‘okay’?!”

“As long as you don’t start sparkling when we hang out, I don’t see the problem.”

Because he used the phrase hang out, Betty just assumes that dating is off the table now. Still it’s good to know friendship isn’t.

The next time he asks her if she wants to see a movie with him, she says yes. After all she thinks that she would enjoy hanging out with him, even if that’s all they do.

It is not all they do, not by a long shot. Well before the credits start to roll Betty’s forgotten what the movies about because she’s so preoccupied by his lips pressed up against hers.


	19. The War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the prompt "Don’t you ever do that again!” on Tumblr! With a requested side of protective Jughead.

A mosquito buzzes in Betty’s ear. She wants so badly to slap it. Instead she has to stay still and silent as it bites into her. From her perch halfway up a maple tree, Fox Forest appears deserted, but Betty knows better. 

One hour ago, when Betty first arrived at the creek that marked the border between North and South, she had heard the soldiers approaching. They hadn’t tried to be quiet, they were too busy gossiping about the new commander. 

Because of their loud approach Betty had just enough time to scramble up the maple, and send a single text before turning her phone off. 

Once the soldiers arrived in the clearing, the commanding officer a short man with glasses that Betty recognized to be Dilton Doiley, ordered the other three soldiers to hide behind rocks and bushes. He had slithered into place next to a downed log. 

None of them were visible now, but they were all easy to hear. It seemed like every minute one of them coughed or moved. Betty’s knees were locked and painful, but at least she knew the importance of staying silent. 

Not that silence alone would save her, If she wasn’t back in her bunk in an hour, the gig would be up, and everyone would know that Betty was working undercover for the Southside. 

One of the soldiers yawns loudly and another, Doiley probably, makes a shushing sound. 

That’s when Jughead, that damn hat still on his head, even though otherwise he was wearing his full army uniform walks directly under the tree Betty’s perched on. He’s not trying to hide his presence. A stick cracks loudly beneath one of his boots and he’s smoking a cigarette. 

Right now the agreement beneath North and South is this, as long as everyone stays on their own side, no shooting. If the creek is crossed all bets are off. 

Jughead walks right up to the creek. Betty wonders if Jughead’s actually alone or he just appears to be. One of the bushes across the way shifts uncomfortably. 

“I can’t see you but I know you’re there!” Jughead shouts “Only a damn fool wouldn’t.”

Doiley sighs and makes his way out from under the log, Two of the other soldiers stand up. One remains hidden in the grass. Betty wishes she could tell Jughead of the forth soldiers presence without revealing too much, but that’s not an option. Instead she stays silent, watches as Jughead walks a little to the left, all eyes are on him. 

About seven feet further down stream he crouches suddenly. Betty can hear the soldiers switch their safeties off as she drops from the branches into the bush. She makes a noise then, but no one seems to notice, they’re all too preoccupied with her boyfriend’s performance. 

Jughead’s actually laughing now, even with all the guns pointed on him. “I really got you.” He says, once he stands back up. Betty’s further from him now, further from all of them, but closer to the creek, in a patch of reeds. 

Jughead kicks at the water, and Betty knows this is her chance, she sacrifices silence for speed as she dashes across the creek at it’s shallowest point, she makes it into the woods and keeps running.

Betty doesn’t hear anyone behind her. There isn’t a single gun shot or a yell. The soldiers are too wrapped up in the show.

Two days later when Betty makes it back to the southside, the northside’s new top secret plan of attack stitched into the lining of her jacket, Jughead greets her before she makes it to the trailer park. 

He places one hand against each of her cheeks and says ““Don’t you ever do that again!” even though both of them know that she will have to sneak across the damn divide every few days till the war is over. 

Still she nods her head and presses a kiss to his lips, an insufficient thanks, a promise for later.


	20. Expectations and exceptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A futurefic, canon divergent after season 2.1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may be more of this, but for right now it's just a drabble!

As Betty exits the courtroom, her heels click on the wooden floor in a satisfying way. Betty’s not sure if designer shoes look better, but she is certain they sound better. 

She feels victorious, like a knight emerging from battle, not a lawyer exiting a courtroom. 

Watching her client Issabella hug her daughters at the front of the courtroom was the best gift Betty could ask for. Although it helps that Betty’s also being paid by the hour.

Betty is still glowing two hours later. She’s back at the office with a cup of tea and her favorite sushi from downtown. A courier just left a lovely bouquet of flowers on her desk that Isabella sent.

Betty is content, at least for this moment, in this space. The older she’s gotten the more she’s learned that this feeling of happiness is a temporary one. 

She’s biting into a perfect piece of Sashimi when her assistant Kat knocks loudly on the door. Betty loves Kat, thinks of her as a friend as well as a coworker, but she wants to luxuriate in the feeling of contentment for at least a few minutes more. 

“Come back in five minutes.” She says sharply.

“There’s a Jughead Jones on the phone for you. He says you’re his one call.” Kat says thru the door her tone nervous. 

Betty’s never told Kat about Jughead. They are the kind of friends who get their nails done together or have an informal book club, and while Kat has spent more than one night venting about boys (and girls) to Betty over wine, Betty has never returned the favor. 

The moment of contentment is gone. Betty drops her chopsticks on the plastic tray, and picks up her phone. 

She swears that she knows it’s Jughead on the other end of the phone just based on the sound of his breath.

“Jughead.” 

“Betty.” His voice on the other end of the line is lower than she remembered, a little thicker somehow. “How’ve you been?”

“Better than you, considering this is your one call.”

Jughead’s laugh on the other end of the line is just the same. She hasn’t seen him in over a decade, and now she longs to be held by him more than anything in the world.

“I’ve been accused of murder. I want you to be my lawyer.”

Betty knows that he’s kept track of her the same way she’s kept track of him, threw Archie, who she always sees when he’s touring San Francisco with whatever shitty band he’s in at the moment.

Betty knows Jughead’s still in charge with the Serpents and running a very successful incarnation of the Whyte Wyrm, She knows he must know exactly what kind of law she practices. Still she says “I’m not that kind of lawyer, Jug.”

“I know that. I don’t need that kind of lawyer, I need you.” 

Just like that, without knowing who’d he’d been accused of murdering, or what exactly were the charges that were leveled against him, Betty agreed to take his case.

Only while her plane’s descending towards Riverdale, does she realize that Jughead never said he was innocent.  



End file.
